So we all want one. Ok maybe not all of us. Besides wanting the latest and greatest iPhone what do we know about it compared to its predecessor the iPhone 3GS? Heres a quick rundown on what new with Apple’s latest creation and my thoughts.

First lets go through the superficial stuff, the design of the new iPhone is boxier. Two glossy panels of aluminosilicate glass, the kind used in helicopter windshields and high speed trains sandwich a custom alloy stainless steel band which provides the structural rigidity for the internal components. Apple claims that the glass panels are 20 times stiffer than plastic making it more durable and scratch resistant as the previous iPhone. Let’s see if these claims are true as I’m sure as soon as its officially out a few individuals out there on YouTube will provide us some drop tests for our viewing pleasure.

On the hardware side, the iPhone 4 now sports an Apple A4 processor, same as the iPad, meaning we can expect it perform faster than the 3GS. Why are phones suddenly becoming reminiscent of computers where we are looking at CPU speed and memory capacity? Well maybe because these little gizmos are now in fact small handheld computers.

The screen is a major upgrade. It has what Apple calls Retina Display, which boasts a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. Apple claims that the pixels are so small the the human eye cannot distinguish individual pixels. For us mortals that means a sharper text and graphics.

The iPhone 4 now has a gyro. The 3GS had a accelerometer so what does a gyro do for the iPhone 4. An accelerometer senses rotation making it possible for the previous iPhones to sense the orientation of the screen. A gyro would be able to detect full 3D attitude, velocity and acceleration rates. Enough geek talk! What can we expect with this new hardware? New apps such as motion recorders, better interaction with games and other ingenious applications that app developers can surprise as with.

Apple has also upgraded the iPhones camera from 3MP to 5MP. A front facing vga camera for video calls which Apple calls Facetime. I’m looking forward to a future Skype app that will use this front facing camera. The rear camera can also take High Definition video at 720p, I’m just not sure how memory will stack up especially if you choose the 16GB model, especially since the iPhone does not have any external memory slots like most smart phones. Theres also a LED light for low light conditions when taking still photos and videos. Nothing new there, most phones have had this for the past five years.

Lastly the iPhone 4 sports an additional microphone on top near the headphone jack to effectively cancel out external noise making for much clearer conversations. We’ll have to wait to see how effective this is as I’ve tried a dozen bluetooth headsets with so called noise or wind cancellation with less than remarkable results.

In a nutshell we get a faster processor, higher resolution display, higher resolution camera, front facing camera, noise cancellation and a gyro.

So am I getting one when they release it in the U.S. on June 24th? Nah, I’ll wait till it is released in Singapore, although the prices are steeper, Singapore mobile phones are all unlocked (open line) as it is required by law, which means I don’t have to wait to software unlocks or hacks to upgrade to newer firmware versions as they come out.